Turns out Akron has another direct tie to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ incredible NBA Championship season.
The massive rings given to the players at the home opener this week were provided by Kay Jewelers, headquartered with its parent company, Signet, off of Ghent Road near Summit Mall.
The heaviest NBA championship ring ever made, each one contains 400 diamonds and comes in at 6.5 carats.
They’re so large that even on the massive fingers of people like LeBron James, they look more like glittering Frisbees than jewelry.
Cavs spokeswoman Phyllis Salem says designing the ring “was truly a group effort,” but that owner Dan Gilbert was at the core of that group. She confirmed that Gilbert purchased a ring for every last person employed directly by the team.
Salem declined to reveal the cost.
“They are priceless,” she said with a smiley face.
Well, there’s that. But only a billionaire like Gilbert could write that kind of check, and it would be fun to know how big it was.
Design discussions began soon after Game 7 and weren’t finalized until September.
There’s more symbolism built into these rings than was required to crack the Da Vinci Code:
• The “World Champions” on the top of the ring consists of 216 diamonds, representing the 216 area code.
• The black accent around the team’s “C” logo on the top represents the black jerseys the team wore in Games 5 and 7, as well as the black T-shirts given to fans at Game 6, when the Cavs, as the home team, were required to wear light uniforms.
• The one-carat diamond that pokes out from the top of the championship trophy replica on the face of the ring stands for the Cavs’ lone NBA championship since their formation in 1970.
• The left and right edges contain 46 diamonds, the number of years the team has been in existence.
• One shoulder of the ring includes the Roman numeral LII to represent the 52 years it took a Cleveland team to win another major sports title.
• The opposite shoulder includes 11 diamonds, representing the number of years Gilbert has owned the team.
• Seven gemstones are on the interior side of the ring — three white diamonds and four wine-colored garnets. The diamonds represent games won by Golden State. The garnets represent the games won by the good guys. They are arranged in chronological order. Need we point out that the final three gems are garnets? Woot woot!
• The erroneous Fibonacci sequence inside the ring delivers a secret code that leads to the cryptex that will open next year’s Larry O’Brien trophy. Just kidding. I think.
The precious keepsakes were actually manufactured by Baron Rings, a privately held company that specializes in professional and college championship rings.
I’m not sure anyone at my privately held company thought he or she would be writing about a championship ring without taking a job in another city.
But now that we’ve broken the drought, I’m prepared to write another column very soon about a baseball ring. Just sayin’.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31